1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to voice message systems. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for delivering voice messages over voice channels to communication devices.
2. The Relevant Technology
Subscribers of voice messaging services typically receive visual notifications of new messages waiting on their communication device. These notifications are often limited to an indication of the number of messages that are waiting in a subscriber's inbox. In some cases, the communication only contains an indication that the inbox contains at least one voice messages, but no indication of the exact number of voice messages, leaving the user with the uncertainty as to how much time will be spent reviewing their voice messages, or even misleading the user into thinking that only one voice message is waiting. The subscriber may be entirely unaware of who left the message and when it was left.
Furthermore, listening to and learning the content of a voice message often requires establishing a network connection to the message server, a process which can take several seconds or more to complete, and which often requires navigating through the message server's menu before finally being able to listen to a message. In addition, the use of a conventional voice mail system requires the user to access his or her messages sequentially in the order they were received. Even when a user is listening to previously played and/or saved messages, the user is typically required to skip messages until the desired message is located. Also, conventional voice mail systems do not provide a way for users to determine who a message is from until the content of each message is played. Thus, in order to reach and play a desired message, the user may be required to listen to at least a part of every received message in the queue prior to reaching the desired message.
One solution to the lack of instantaneous access to voice messages is to automatically deliver each message in its entirety to a communication device while connected with a communication network, as can be done with Multimedia Messaging Service (“MMS”) messages. For example, when an MMS message is created using an MMS client, it is submitted to a home MMS Center (“MMSC”), and then sent by the home MMSC to the recipient MMSC. The recipient MMSC sends a notification (e.g., an SMS message via a control channel) to the recipient's wireless device, and the MMS client on the recipient's wireless device automatically retrieves the MMS message from the recipient MMSC after receiving the notification. MMS voice messages, besides being delivered automatically, have the additional advantage of being stored locally on both the sending and receiving wireless device so that either the sender or the receiver can forward the voice message to other devices and have instant access to the voice message as long as the message is stored on the users' device.
One problem with conventional MMS systems is that MMS messages can only be retrieved by the recipient MMS client via a data channel (e.g., in a data network), even though the notification is often sent to the recipient device via a control channel (e.g., a control network). While data networks can be coextensive with control networks, this is not always the case, for example when roaming on another operators network. Thus, a recipient device can receive a notification via the control channel and nevertheless be unable to retrieve the corresponding message if the recipient device is outside the data network. In some cases, the recipient device cannot retrieve the message and does not alert the device user that a message is waiting until the message is actually retrieved from the data channel. Consequently, the user remains unaware of the message and, even if made aware of the message, could not access the message until the recipient device is located in the data network. Thus, when using the MIMS delivery system, there is an issue when the user is not in data coverage. This creates the problem that retrieving messages is now less reliable than with conventional voice mail systems since the user can call his voice mail while roaming. This creates a tradeoff between the better experience of MMS, but poorer reliability of message retrieval.
Further, MMS systems do not address issues relating to different voice mail systems having varying capabilities. For example, people often have multiple voice mail systems (e.g., home voice mail, work voice mail, cellular voice mail, etc.), and the ability to listen to messages on a particular voice mail system requires the user to call that specific system and navigate the menu system of that specific system in order to retrieve any voice mail messages stored therein. Potentially, a person would be required to learn two or more different and independent voice mail navigation systems. In other words, a person who has multiple voice mail systems is typically unable to retrieve all messages from multiple systems simultaneously. Even if the user's voice mail systems forward the messages to a single messaging system, the user still experiences those challenges mentioned above with regard to navigating menus and accessing voice messages sequentially. As a result, the user still spends substantial time maneuvering through their voice messaging system.
Accordingly, there currently exists a need in the art for improving voice message systems and providing alternative means for users to access received voice messages.